


Let Our Hearts Lead The Way

by LapisLazuli13



Series: Jasico - My Guilty Pleasure [5]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Friendship, Jason Grace is a Dork, M/M, Nico is an oblivious cinnamon roll, Percy Jackson is a Good Bro, Sweet, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, just fluff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-06
Updated: 2018-06-03
Packaged: 2019-05-02 23:48:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,475
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14556249
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LapisLazuli13/pseuds/LapisLazuli13
Summary: Between a platonic friendship and a romantic relationship, there is a status that Jason would call “Only Gods know what the heck is going on”.Yes, he definitely doesn’t have the vaguest idea what’s going on between him and a certain son of Hades. Not that he’s eager to find out immediately either.





	1. When it started.

#  **Let Our Hearts Lead The Way.**

_Between a platonic friendship and a romantic relationship, there is a status that Jason would call “Only Gods know what the heck is going on”._

_Yes, he definitely doesn’t have the vaguest idea what’s going on between him and a certain son of Hades. Not that he’s eager to find out immediately either._

**…**

**..**

**.**

##  _**Chapter 1: When it started.** _

…

It all started with a sparring match in the Arena.

“No powers,” Percy decided, a cheeky grin dancing on his mouth. “We could bring down all this area if we use our powers. Chiron definitely won’t be pleased with that sight.”

 _No kidding_ , the blond thought. The centaur wasn’t happy at all with the disaster they brought to the training dummies last week. If they destroy the arena, Chiron might lash out his anger at them and believe Jason, nobody wants to be on Chiron’s blacklist, even if they’re the sons of The Big Three.

“So it’s time for you to admit that you’re a worse swordsman than me,” the son of Jupiter smirked while flipping his gold coin, chose to turn it into a sword.

“Sorry, I’ve known how to swing Riptide since I was 12,” Percy detached the cap of his pen. “I’ll _gracefully_ kick your ass.”

Jason rolled his eyes and groaned in discomfort. Here we go _again_ , the never-ending puns people can make with his name.

“Fine, _Perseus_. Shall we start now, you sore loser?” Jason flashed the green-eyed boy a challenging grin. Of course, the son of Poseidon immediately accepted his provocation.

…

They _only_ destroyed a quarter of the arena after half of an hour. And at the same time, they simultaneously gathered a crowd of campers standing around them with a safe distance to watch their match with enthusiasm. They didn’t really mind it, because it’s not like these campers could see something as interesting as a fight between two sons of the Big Three every day.

Jason managed to give Percy three deadly stabs – kind of thrust from a sword that if you’re on the battlefield so you’re going to die soon enough. But because this was just a friendly (but still rivalrous) sparring match, so he only left wide torn strips on Percy’s shirt. The black-haired boy counter-attacked by two marks on Jason’s shirt and a small cut on his left cheek. When the blond wiped the drying blood on his skin by the back of his hand and licked it mockingly, some girls screamed at the background because of how inhumanely hot he was.

Percy decided to make a show. He tore apart his faded T-shirt and threw it on the floor. The screaming noises only got bigger and more boisterous.

“Hey, take off your clothes.” The son of Poseidon cheekily said, a lazy grin curved up his lips. Sweat covered his upper torso, his toned body with glistening skin was really a great sight to behold.

Jason shrugged at the provoking tone, but he took off his shirt nonetheless. The blond possessed a statuesque figure, so he didn’t hesitate to let other people look at his naked upper body. Now both of them were shirtless, and they can hear the screams were coming from some boys too.

“Continue?” Jason smirked, attacking the other demigod.

Percy immediately switched to battle mode, their weapons clashed with each other and made those deafening sounds. Outside the Arena, the sky grumbled with thunders far away, and the winds were blowing over the calm surface of the lake inside Camp Half-Blood, created some fluctuating ruffling of the surface.

With a roaring clash, they pushed the other back and split apart by a loud blow, both of them were panting heavily. Jason felt the itching desire to use his electric power, and he knew Percy was so close to unleashing his own water-controlling ability too. They were both powerful demigods, and every time a son of Poseidon and a son of Jupiter fight against each other, it’s hard for them to deliberately ignore their terrifying skills.

“If only we could use our powers…” Percy smirked, and Jason immediately felt his instincts warning him: _Danger!_

A flow of water flew into the room with an almost impossible speed and quickly created a whirlpool to attack Jason. The son of Jupiter only had enough time to follow his first thought: he manipulated the air around his body and flew over the ground.

The whirlpool missed its target, so the water dismissed and flowed around Percy like a strange armor formed by liquid.

“You cheated!” Jason groaned, but his eyes glinted with amusement. Percy can’t hold his own powers back anymore, so he didn’t need to do it either.

“C’mon, both of us know how much we want to release our powers…” The son of Poseidon just smiled jokingly, his left hand was hovering above the water flow, ready for another attack.

“Both of you, stop now.” Before Jason could think about a smart retort, a low, velvety but dangerous voice suddenly echoed the room. He blinked, and the campers were watching their match gasped when a small figure materialized from a shadow in the corner of the Arena.

Only one demigod they knew could do that impressive trick. Nico di Angelo, son of Hades, with his ability to shadow-travel.

“Hey, Neeks! You’re here! Join us!” Percy even had the audacity to smile cheerfully at Nico. Jason suddenly felt a strange wave of emotions swept through his body when he looked at the youngest demigod's darkened eyes.

Nico squinted his eyes at the chaos they made, sighed heavily. “Chiron will not happy about this.”

“We won’t tell him, I promise.” Percy winked at him. At that moment, Jason didn’t understand why he felt so relieved when he knew Nico told him the truth by saying he was over Percy for a while. Because honestly, that sexy grin of the green-eyed demigod was so hard to resist. Not that Jason personally thought Percy was attractive – well he was – but the blond just pointed out the truth. Percy was always on top of three sexiest demigods at Camp.

Jason knew another one on top of this chart was him, but he didn’t pay too much attention for gossips at Camp either. That’s the reason why he didn’t know if Nico was on top three most attractive demigods or not, but _personally_ , the blond thought that the youngest boy of them was insanely irresistible.

“That’s not the point,” Nico groaned. His moody behaviours could be scary to other demigods, but Jason never felt threatened by that. “You’re destroying the Arena. Stop being so stupid and irresponsible.”

Well, Jason must admit that sometimes when Nico was really angry or being overprotective of his sisters _(he counted Reyna too, even though that girl didn’t really need someone to protect her)_ , he could break the ground, summon a legion of death army and skeleton warriors, command the dead to fight for him and make shadows bend under his strengths. Jason found those actions were really admirable and honestly, he thought Nico was _hot_ on battlefields.

Not that he was willing to admit that too.

“Wow, make me.” Percy joked with another wink, his hand was commanding the water to create a new whirlpool. Nico hissed dangerously when he disappeared into a shadow. He materialized right behind Percy’s back in his own shadow and with a swift move, he unsheathed his black sword and pierced through the ground under his feet.

The floor of the arena cracked open, some skeletal hands burst out and started to climb over the ground. Nico waved his free hand, the earthy material was moving under his command and sucking down the water from the whirlpool.

“Hey!” Percy opened his mouth to complain, but Nico quickly shot him a piercing glare and the older demigod immediately shut his mouth up.

“Turn Riptide back to the pen or I will throw your weapon to the Underworld,” Nico threatened with a serious tone, and Percy did as he was told, even though he mumbled something just like _‘You know my sword will always come back to me so your threat is really harmless’_.

“Now Jason, you’ll come down here or you want to make me drag you down?” Nico lifted his head up and looked straight at the electric blue eyes. Jason tried so hard to ignore those butterflies in his stomach when dark chocolate brown irises stared at him. Those eyes were once like shattered glass and broken dreams turned into ashes, but now they’re more lively and warmer a little bit, and the blond demigod must admit that he loved to look at Nico’s eyes.

But not in some moments like this, because the younger boy’s eyes now were like he was going to kill Jason. The son of Jupiter stubbornly stayed in the middle of the Arena, and Nico bared his teeth dangerously.

“I take this as a challenge,” when he finished his sentence, the ground was shaking slightly and a column of earth shot up in the air with Nico standing firmly on it. He let it take him closer to the flying demigod, and his eyes never left Jason’s, none of them broke their intense eye-contact. “Down.” He said when he finally was in the same height with Jason.

“Catch me if you can,” Jason playfully winked at Nico and flew away. The younger demigod growled in a wild way and if Jason didn’t know Nico was Greek, he could swear that it was Lupa who taught him how to make sounds like a true wolf. He turned his head around to see Nico shot him a deadly glare, and wow, if the black-haired boy was a Roman, Lupa would be pleased to teach him and raise him as one of her favourite cubs. Just like Jason.

The blond tried to not think about the strange picture of the small versions of him and Nico sitting between Lupa’s big forelimbs, playing with her fur and listening to warm wolves’ growls around them.

But in that distracted moment, something just grabbed Jason’s right leg and when he looked down, he was surprised when he found a skeletal hand was wrapping around his ankle and a smiling (?) face of a skull.

How could he know the skull was smiling? Were skulls capable of showing emotions? He should ask Nico about this later when the younger demigod wasn’t busy chasing after him and being angry with him.

“You down there!” He heard Nico yelled, and he just flew over a shadow when suddenly another hand grabbed his arm. The skin was cold as ice, but at least it wasn’t some skeleton. Nico reappeared from the shadow, his hand was still wrapping firmly around Jason’s bicep, and his eyes looked straight at Jason’s when the corner of his mouth twitched into a mischievous smirk.

No, Jason _definitely_ _didn’t_ think about how _insanely attractive_ that smirk was _at all_.

“Caught you,” he said, and Jason felt darkness covered his entire body. The unfamiliar feeling of shadow-traveling made him feel a little bit sick, and he couldn’t be more grateful when he finally could put his feet on the real ground again.

“No more fighting,” Nico told both of them, much to the disappointment of their audience. Some of those campers were still unable to close their mouths after watching how Nico controlled his tremendous powers. If there was one thing Percy admired the most about his technically younger cousin (let’s not think about their complex connections), it was his abilities to possess and use a very wide range of powers and nearly never losing his control.

“Hey, you destroyed some parts of the Arena too,” Percy crossed his arms over his chest and accused with a playful grin. Nico rolled his eyes when Jason looked at the chaotic ground. Nico’s powers could be really terrifying sometimes.

“I can fix that,” Nico simply replied, commanding the ground and his skeletons to come back to their usual places. Only ten seconds later, the last crack closed and the Arena was back to its normal state – at least the level of “normal” before Nico appeared.

“Your ability to control the earth is so convenient,” Percy flashed both of his friend a wide smile. “If only I could command the death and move the ground…”

“You could ask my dad. He might agree to let you become a part of his Kingdom.” Nico snorted, and Jason didn’t hold back his laugh at the smart and sarcastic comment. The younger boy had such a dark sense of humour that not really everyone appreciated, but Jason found himself liked this characteristic of Nico so much.

“You’re not fun anymore,” Percy literally pouted, and Nico just rolled his eyes. “One more thing.”

“What?” Nico asked, and Percy winked at Jason while mouthed _“Hold him!”_ before he suddenly grabbed Nico’s shirt and yanked it over his head.

“Hey…!” The younger demigod protested but he wasn’t quick enough to keep his shirt on his body. When Percy threw his black T-shirt away and Jason held Nico back, their audience gasped at the sight. Because it was exceptionally rare for any of them to see the son of Hades shirtless.

And to their surprise, the youngest boy of the three possessed such an appealing figure. His body wasn’t as big as Jason or tanned like Percy, but it was toned in all right places. His nature Italian complexion was slowly coming back so he didn’t look sickly pale and as white as chalk anymore, but rather a healthy and attractive tone of olive skin. Because Nico’s body wasn’t impressive with muscles, he looked lithe and swift in movements. Combined with the way his long feathery hair was tied up in a small ponytail at the back of his head, Jason could swear he was having the most awkward and inappropriate boner right at this moment.

Wait a minute. Since when he looked at the younger demigod and felt the other _sexually attractive_?

“Why did you do this?!” Nico shouted at Percy, and Jason was feeling lucky when the smaller demigod didn’t mention the fact that he was still holding him quite tighter than necessary. He didn’t want to let go of him, and he didn’t really understand why either. Jason didn’t understand why some animals complained that Nico smelled like death – if only death could smell that comforting and nice. Nico’s scent was like cinnamon and pomegranates, and some other flowery scents lingering in the air just like invisible shadows. Jason found it’s so hard to resist himself not bury his face into the crook of the other boy’s neck and inhale his appealing scents.

“Because both of us are shirtless, so it’s fair to make you take off your shirt too,” Percy smirked teasingly, and Nico hissed but didn’t retort. Maybe he was secretly thinking about how to detach Percy’s teeth from his gums. They could never be sure what’s going on in the other’s head.

“You’re so ridiculous,” after some seconds, Nico crossed his arms over his chest to cover up some parts of his upper body, then he glared at Jason. “And you, I thought you should have more responsibilities than this idiot, but now I realized I was wrong.”

Jason just smiled sheepishly at Nico. And no, he didn’t notice the way the other’s lips moved when he was talking, the small corner of his lips curved up in a small smile, the dark bottomless abysses were staring at him, or the faint trail of cinnamon and some comfortable earthy scents was pervaded from the smaller boy. _Not at all._

His awkward boner was secretly telling him _‘You liar.’_. Jason ignored it. Sometimes it really sucks to have a wood inside one’s pants.

“Why did you stop us though?” Percy questioned, one of his eyebrows raised up. “We’re having fun with each other. Unless that made you upset because we didn’t invite you…”

“Please, I’m a grown-up human being,” Nico glanced at the older boy with disinterest, deliberately ignored Percy’s snort. “Just want to give you guys a friendly notice about the following event with the Roman Camp.”

“What event… Ah!” Jason slapped his forehead. Now he remembered what Reyna IM him two days ago. Their exchanging visit was coming up: Hazel and Reyna will lead a group of twenty Roman demigods to Camp Half-Blood and they will stay for five days. A lot of work needed to be done by the end of this month. And today was…

“Yeah, today is 27th of July. You don’t have much time left to prepare,” Nico nodded at Jason and Percy as if he could read their minds. “Better start as soon as possible. And by that, I mean _now_.”

Both the other demigods stared at him wordlessly. Nico sighed, he couldn’t believe those idiots were older than him. Well, technically he was old enough to be their grandpa, but these years he spent inside Lotus hotel didn’t count. He was still the youngest one in three of them, but sometimes they found Nico was the most responsible one.

“We’ll have a counselors meeting at the Big House in fifteen minutes,” he told them the last thing before slowly let the shadows embrace his lithe figure. Maybe he should come back to his cabin to grab a shirt first. He didn’t need to be naked from his waist up to present in front of Chiron and other Camp’s head counselors.

Jason was still in lost. Percy shook his head slightly and grinned. “Jace, did you see what I see?”

“See what?” was his intelligent and eloquent response.

“Nico’s really grown up!” Percy exclaimed cheerfully.

“He did say that,” Jason recalled. “But I don’t understand why do you look so excited about this.”

“Dude, that’s not what I mean,” Percy rolled his eyes, walked away to pick up his torn shirt. “I’m talking about his figure. Don’t tell me you didn’t notice it. You were that close…” He made a very tiny space between his thumb and index finger. “… from salivating all over the ground just by looking at Nico’s body.”

_Damn. Was he really that obvious?_

“I didn’t…” The blond weakly protested when he followed Percy’s action.

“You did,” the son of Poseidon snorted. “Don’t worry, your secret is safe with me. And you don’t need to feel ashamed about it. I mean, that’s a normal reaction when you see that kind of body. Puberty has done nothing but favors to Nico.”

“I still can’t see your point,” Jason replied calmly, taking some more steps to grab Nico’s black shirt. The kid forgot to take it back or just simply let it here, he didn’t know. But he thought it’s a good action to return the shirt to its owner.

“Geez, sometimes you’re so dense,” Percy rolled his eyes theatrically. “Hypothetically, if I wasn’t with Annabeth, I would not refuse a chance to go out with Nico. Are you clear now?”

“… In some weird ways, yes.” Jason just wanted the other to shut up. He didn’t need Percy to make his boner more awkward than it already was.

“Dude, you really need to make me spit it out for you?” Percy sighed in defeat. “Nico is sexually attractive, dumbass! Throw him into a bar and he could easily give every non-straight man there a boner in just one minute!”

“I don’t think we should try to test your hypothesis anytime soon,” sometimes even Jason himself can’t explain his priorities.

“Duh, don’t I know that,” Percy laughed and patted Jason’s shoulder. “I’m not ready to let some strangers take advantage of my little brother like that. His appealing body can attract pretty dangerous predators if you understand what I mean.”

“I get this,” Jason sighed. “Let’s not talk about this right now. I think we have a meeting that we need to attend in five minutes. Adjust our priorities.”

“Oh damn, I almost forget it! Hurry up!” Percy quickly switched back to his more serious manner.

***

“So, that’s our plan for making a friendly-rivalrous game Capture the Flag between us and the Romans.” Annabeth, the head counselor of Athena cabin finished her presentation with an applause from everyone else inside the room. Even Nico flashed a wide grin at her, and they all knew that’s a big compliment from him because Nico di Angelo very rarely smiled.

And wow, they all secretly agreed that he was truly an angel when he genuinely smiled. The expression lit up his face, it was brightened and his facial features had a striking resemblance to an angel whenever he smiled. If they didn’t know much, they could easily think he was a child of Aphrodite with that angelic beauty.

“My sisters… I mean, Praetor Arellano and the new leader of the Fifth Cohort Levesque will come together. They leave Praetor Zhang at Camp Jupiter to keep their Camp organized, so we could have another chance to meet him if this first exchange goes well. The Athena Cabin has a very thoughtful plan and I appreciate this, but we still have a lot of work to do. Since I’m the Ambassador of Pluto and I already knew something about our Roman ally, would you mind if I’m in charge of all the big work this time? I won’t be too strict, I promise.” Nico stood up and his velvety voice filled the room. Everybody listened to him with genuine interest, and some of them already noticed the way his arms were moving animatedly when he was talking. It was kind of cute, really. After all, he was still a child, he was younger than most of them.

“I agree,” Chiron smiled at him, and the campers knew even the old and wise centaur was fond of the little boy. “Does anyone have any other idea?”

They simultaneously shook their heads. Another matter was finally decided.

…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I write this because I deserve some tooth-rotting sweetness and fluff after all the trauma I just had. I'm so done and I'll turn a blind eye to the whole series TOA now. I refuse to acknowledge the entire existence of that series.


	2. Later that night.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Or I’ll find a way to get the recipe and make some hot chocolate for you,” Nico looked up at the ceiling, and he seemed lost in thought. “That’s safer because idiots with hero complex are sometimes unpredictable.”
> 
> “I honestly don’t think that’s an insult.”
> 
> “That’s why I said you’re an idiot,” Nico smirked. “But you’re kind of cute when you’re slow.”
> 
> _Hmm… **What?**_

##  **_Chapter 2: Later that night._ **

…

When their meeting ended, the head counselors left the Big House. It was dinner time, and they had their duties with the fellow campers. Jason walked out with Percy and Will Solace, the head counselor of Apollo Cabin.

“Man, I was impressed,” Will grinned brightly, as if he was radiating sunlight. It was because of his handsome appearance or the fact that he was a son of the Sun God, Jason really didn’t know. “Little Nico is growing up. He’s losing his baby fat, and I can’t describe him as a cute kitten anymore. To be honest, he’s kind of hot.”

“Don’t we know that, right, Jace?” Percy playfully shoved Jason’s shoulder, and Jason grimaced at this quite violently action.

“Yeah, Nico is no more a child.” He mumbled, and suddenly he felt a strange wave of feeling swept through his body. Soon enough, Nico could find someone that he loves and loves him back, and they could finally have a happy ending. That kid deserved that. But why did think about it make Jason feel a sharp pain in his chest? Was what _that_?

“If you want to have a slot in the Big Brothers Group, I invite you.” Percy grinned, and Will smiled back.

“I’d love to,” the son of Apollo replied, the grin on his face only got wider. “I have some stuff to do. See ya!”

He quickly ran to his table and yelled something at his siblings. Percy shrugged and turned his head toward Jason. “Another member of this protection squad. I’m doing a good job in expanding my little club.”

“And a poor job in acting like a decent human being,” a voice suddenly raised behind their backs and if Jason didn’t know about Nico’s habit of appearing from nowhere, he swore he could instantly switch into his battle mode and draw out his sword. “Seriously, Jackson, what is that club?”

Percy even had the audacity to smile at the younger demigod. “Nothing, Nico! Absolutely nothing!”

His lying skills were as terrible as usual, though.

“I doubt it,” the dark-eyed boy snorted but chose to not push it further. “So which table do you want to sit at today?”

Even though Camp Half-Blood had strict rules about sitting at their godly parent’s table for each member, those rules seemed not apply to three certain sons of the Big Three. They’re all the only member for each table, so they decided to sit together at dinner time. Chiron turned a blind eye to this, even when sometimes Annabeth, Piper or Leo sat with the three of them. When you saved the world from apocalypse not just once but twice, it’s not a big deal that you got some privileges.

“Yours,” Jason thought for two seconds. “It’s closer to where we are standing right now.”

“Sure.” Nico nodded and headed toward his table. Percy chuckled and whispered to the blond when they walked after the youngest boy.

“Do you see those eyes that other campers are giving our little brother, Grace?”

“Yeah.” And to be honest, Jason didn’t like that kind of gazes they’re looking at Nico at all.

“It’s not scared eyes anymore. They’re adoring him, Jason. And because I’m a big brother, I must say that I’m not satisfied with some campers who are mentally undressing him with their eyes right now.”

Jason wasn’t either. He growled in discomfort. “For God’s sake, he is barely fifteen years old. Still too small for those ones to look at him with hungry eyes like that.”

“Woah woah, easy, wolf,” Percy raised both of his arms in front of his chest in a defensive posture. “It’s not me who looks at Nico like that. Don’t be angry at me.”

“You two want to eat dinner or not?” Nico’s voice snapped Jason out of his anger state. He raised an eyebrow at them skeptically. “What are you talking about?”

“Nothing!” They both answered him, then looked at each other. “Absolutely nothing!”

Nico only snorted and gave them a disbelieving look. “Let’s eat.”

They sat down, and the nymphs appeared and smiled at them, gave them their plates with healthy food. After burning a part of their dinner for their godly parents, the trio started to enjoy the food. Percy still loved his blue coke as usual.

“Can we sit here?” They lifted their heads up and saw Leo with Piper. Nico nodded, and Piper sat down next to him when Leo settled on a seat next to Jason. Piper’s plate was full of vegetable, it’s nothing new since she was a vegetarian. Leo was holding a plate with grilled sausages, beans, and bacon, with a red sauce that looked like chili sauce.

“Having something in your mind?” Piper teased, her eyes glinted with pure amusement when she looked at the blond.

Jason coughed and almost choked with his food. Even though he and Piper had a mutual break-up and they still managed to keep their friendship, it’s still hard to look straight into her eyes sometimes for Jason. And she was a daughter of love and all, so hell no, Jason wasn’t ready to let her know his new kind of pain whenever he looked at or thought about a certain son of Hades.

“Just thinking about the next visit of the Romans,” Jason replied, and it’s technically not a lie. He did think about this, even it was just a very small thought at the back of his mind, but it was still there nonetheless.

“Ah, I see,” Piper smiled warmly. “I’m looking forward to seeing a daughter or a son of Venus. I want to know more about my mother’s counterpart. It’s kind of interesting.”

“I’m not that eager to see a child of Vulcan,” Leo shrugged and started to play with his food by the fork. “Maybe we’re still the same, better with machines than people. I didn’t see any documents of myths that describe Vulcan as a handsome man, so maybe he and Hephaestus are not that different.”

“Nah, for me I only want to see my sisters.” Nico offered them a shy smile, and of course, they noticed how he said “sisters” instead of “sister”. Somehow after their deadly mission to bring the Athena Parthenos across the world, Reyna had adopted Nico, and she cared about him as a little brother. It’s kind of terrifying for them the first time they asked Reyna about her relationship with Nico and a _motherly expression_ appeared on her face.

Percy thought he just found another perfect member for his _Nico’s protection squad_. “It’s great to see Reyna and Hazel. But I miss Frank though. It’s quite sad that we couldn’t see all of them next month.”

“Frank and Hazel will have another visit, don’t worry,” Nico shrugged when he picked up a slice of bacon. “Camp Jupiter needs at least one leader to stay at their camp.”

They talked for some more minutes before all of them finished their plates. Dinner was over, and now they had some spare time before the campfire started.

“What are you going to do, Nico?” Jason asked because he didn’t have anything in particular to do, so he wanted to tag along with the younger demigod.

“I want to call Hazel and ask her what does she want to see when she comes to Camp Half-Blood,” Nico thought for a while. “You could do it with me, you know. Write down some ideas or something like that. It helps me to remember better.”

“Sure,” Jason nodded and a smile curved up his lips. “Go with us, Percy?”

“Nah, thanks for the invitation, but I think I’ll pass it this time,” the son of Poseidon shook his head, a lazy grin crossed his face. “I want to see if Annabeth has drowned herself in those blueprints or not. See you guys later!”

So Jason walked with Nico to the Hades cabin, and during their short walk, he resisted the urge to throw an arm around the younger demigod’s shoulder in a protective manner so hard because he kept noticing some campers looked at Nico with such predator eyes. He wanted to grab their collars and shout _“Nico is mine!”_ or something similar to that at them.

“Hey? Earth to Jason?” Nico’s melodic voice snapped the blond demigod out of his possessive thoughts. “What are you thinking, Jason? Are you listening to me?”

“Sorry, I lost in thought,” Jason apologized. “What did you say?”

“I say if you want to have some brownies at New Rome or not. I could ask Hazel or Reyna to bring some for you.” Nico offered him a smile, and Jason suddenly wanted to kiss him right now.

Wait a minute. It’s happening again. Since when did Jason want to do those things with Nico? Were they still friends?

Sure, they were. But friends shouldn’t want to kiss their friends no matter said friend looked so kissable at this moment like that. Between a platonic friendship and a romantic relationship, there is a status that the blond would call _“Only Gods know what the heck it’s going on.”_. And it was exactly the definition of the _thing_ between him and Nico now.

“So your answer is yes or no?” Nico raised an eyebrow and Jason mentally slapped himself for making such a fool out of himself.

“Yes, thank you.” He smiled at the younger demigod and hoped that he didn’t look like an idiot.

“Guess so,” Nico smirked and opened the door to his cabin. “Make yourself at home, Jason.”

It’s obviously not the first time Jason came into the other’s cabin, so he quickly seated himself on Nico’s bed since the furniture in the younger demigod’s cabin was simple, and there was a lack of chair or table. Nico grabbed a handful of drachmas and a bottle of water to make a rainbow to contact his sister.

Hazel’s face appeared through the rainbow screen, and she beamed when she saw Nico and Jason. “Hi, brother! Right when I’m wondering when would you call me… Oh hi, Jason! Nice to see you too!”

“Hello, Hazel.” Jason flashed her a wide grin.

“Haze, miss you too,” Nico smiled at her and Jason really liked that kind of smile. Not a dangerous smirk, not a cold and mysterious grin, not a lazy curved up of the corner of his mouth, that was a real smile, and it was so warm, so genuine that it lightened up the features of Nico’s face and made him have a striking resemblance to an angel. “You will travel here in next week. Excited?”

“More than excited, I’m ecstatic!” Hazel grinned. “So, what’s up?”

“Nothing important, just want to see your face,” Nico smiled back at her. “And I want to ask if you could bring us some brownies when you come here, okay? Jason misses those cakes in New Rome.”

“Sure, no problem!” Hazel nodded. “Anything else?”

Nico asked his sister if she had anything she especially wants to see or enjoy in Camp Half-Blood, so Hazel grinned and started to list some activities she thought about before for him. Jason sat next to Nico and tried to memorize as many as he could.

“And the last thing, you and Reyna must come here quickly and safely,” Nico told her. “I miss you two, but I don’t want any of you to get into danger or trouble.”

“Oh, believe me, getting into those kinds of things is your specialties, not mine,” Hazel laughed, her eyes sparkled with interest and fondness toward her brother. “Noted. Want to tell Frank something?”

“Ah, yeah, I miss him too. Next time he must come to Camp Half-Blood with you, seeing you two together is kind of grossly cute.” He winked and smirked at her.

“How dare you talk like that about your sister!” Hazel yelled at him, but her cheeks were reddening. “I won’t tell Frank exactly that, you know! And you can come and visit Camp Jupiter. You can shadow-travel, and it’s convenient, Nico.”

“I know. Next time I visit Camp Jupiter, I want to play Mythomagic with him,” Nico grinned. “See you later, Haze. Say hello to Reyna for me.”

“Okay. Goodbye, Nico. Bye, Jason.” Hazel winked at them, and her image disappeared.

“Seeing Hazel makes me miss Camp Jupiter more than I thought,” Jason commented when Nico took out two empty glasses and a bottle of water. “Next time you visit Camp Jupiter, can I tag along?”

“Sure, if you agree to shadow-travel with me,” Nico shrugged and gave Jason a glass of water. “I hate flying.”

“I can carry you the whole travel and I don’t mind. It’s only some hours at most.”

“Shadow-traveling needs only one minute at most,” the son of Hades snorted at Jason’s idea. “And your arms will become jelly at the moment you release me after hours of flying. I don’t want to make you that exhausted.”

“It’s fine, I did say I don’t mind. Or we can use Tempest.”

“Animals hate me, remember?”

“Reyna’s dogs adore you.” Jason blinked. The last time he checked, Aurum and Argentum really liked the son of Hades. They acted like Nico’s their second owner, and they followed him almost everywhere when he’s in New Rome.

“Living animals.”

“Fair point. Even though I have to say your shadow-traveling is convenient but also too nauseating.” Jason grimaced. He admired that insane power of Nico, but admiring something and actually liking it were two different things.

“You’ll get used to it when you have enough experience,” Nico sighed. “Just answer yes or no, will you agree to use shadow-traveling when we come to Camp Jupiter next month or not?”

“Yes.” Jason breathed out, even though he disliked the idea, he couldn’t give up a chance to be with Nico.

Just call him an idiot, he can’t deny it in that case.

“Good,” Nico nodded in satisfaction. “Hmm, I think I’ll give you some practice to get you used to it. Short distance, twice or three times a week, if we could have some free time.”

Jason hoped that he didn’t hear that wrong. “Sorry, did you just invite me to… go out with you sometimes?”

“… It’s quite strange when you’re putting it that way, but sure, we can think it’s like that too,” Nico shrugged nonchalantly. “We can run errands for Camp, or just go out and enjoy some non-magic and mythology atmosphere in the human world. Hopefully that we won’t run into any monsters. I’ve met enough of these creatures in my life. But the main point is getting you used to my shadow-traveling skills, so you won’t complain too much when we actually need to travel a long distance to Camp Jupiter.”

“That’s… great,” Jason idiotically breathed out because he didn’t think his mind was functioning normally at this moment. “Thank you, Nico.”

“It’s always better when you travel with someone and that person won’t faint or vomit all over your clothes right after you finish the trip,” Nico smirked, and Jason pushed his shoulder slightly.

“That’s so mean! I’ll never be like that!”

“Whatever you say,” Nico didn’t get angry at any kind of physical contacts that Jason made now, unlike his attitude toward almost everybody else, so the son of Jupiter secretly counted it as a victory. “So… do you have some free time tomorrow? After 3 in the afternoon. We can go out till 5 and come back before dinner.”

“Alright, I’ll pick you up at your cabin at 3, okay?” Jason smiled genuinely, and Nico nodded.

“Technically it’s me who carry you all the way, but whatever, don’t forget it. We’ll figure out where do we want to go to later, it’s not a big deal,” Nico took out some pieces of papers and two pencils from one of his drawers. “Now we’ve got some works that need to be done. Give me a hand, would you?”

“It’s always my pleasure to help you,” Jason grinned. “What do you need me to do for you?”

“Firstly, I need you to stop being such a dork then,” Nico playfully hit the blond’s forehead with the eraser tip of his pencil. “Don’t look at me with that smile on your face, you and your damn hero complex always make me feel like I’m a kid that needs a hero, or worse, a damsel in distress, who I’m not in both of the cases.”

“But technically, you’re a kid,” Jason pointed out. “No offense.”

“And I already said to you so clear that I don’t need heroes to save me. I’m fine. No more heroes.” Nico frowned and shook his head.

“Alright then,” Jason sighed and opted to not push the issue anymore. “We still have half an hour before the campfire starts. Let’s get some work done.”

“We can both skip the campfire if you agree,” Nico shrugged when doodling something in his paper. “I’m not an out-going person, in case you haven’t noticed.”

“You’ll miss the marshmallows or the perfectly burned s’mores with hot chocolate.” Jason looked up from his paper. He wasn’t against the idea of staying inside the Hades cabin during the campfire at all, but the campfire had its own charm, and Nico was a fan of chocolate, at least he knew that.

“I’ll always have chances to eat them later,” Nico pouted. “And let me tell you a fact, hot chocolate in the Underworld is way more delicious than that. My step-mother is the goddess of spring, and plants are her thing after all.”

“Now you make me want to give that a shot,” Jason laughed. “But I’ll be trapped in the Underworld if I take even just a single drop, won’t I? What a pity.”

“Yes, you will. But don’t worry, if you’re dumb enough to do this, I’ll keep your company down there.”

The blond frowned at this comment, he wasn’t sure should he be happy about that or not. “I don’t think that’s a helpful thing to say at all, even though I’m grateful for that offer.”

“Or I’ll find a way to get the recipe and make some hot chocolate for you,” Nico looked up at the ceiling, and he seemed lost in thought. “That’s safer because idiots with hero complex are sometimes unpredictable.”

“I honestly don’t think that’s an insult.”

“That’s why I said you’re an idiot,” Nico smirked. “But you’re kind of cute when you’re slow.”

_Hmm… **What?**_

Before Jason could ask Nico what did he mean by saying that, the other demigod rose up from his bed and rolled to the other side. He patted on the space he just made and grinned. “Climb up here, I won’t bite.”

“Last time I checked, it was me who gets raised by a pack of wolves, not you,” Jason replied but still did what he’s told.

“You could never know what or who I learned from when I spent my time in the Underworld.”

“Care to tell me about that?” Jason asked hopefully. Nico rarely talked about the time he lived alone or talked about himself in general. Jason was one of a few people that he trusted, and the blond didn’t want to waste even just a single chance to know more about the boy.

“When we have time,” Nico nodded. “Tomorrow is fine, I think I could share with you some little secrets. But now, work.”

Jason knew he just scored some points on Nico’s list, so he didn’t complain anything. Alright, work first, talk later. He could always count on his strict demeanor as he was brought up as a soldier in Camp Jupiter so he wouldn’t waste his time on doing unnecessary things.

…


	3. The first time Jason shadow-travelled with Nico.

##  _**Chapter 3: The first time Jason shadow-travelled with Nico.** _

…

The next day, at 3 in the afternoon, Jason was more than ready to go out with Nico. Even though they would need to shadow-travel, he didn’t really care about that part.

“I’m done preparing. Are you alright?” Nico asked. Today he chose a simple button-up dark grey shirt with dark blue jeans. The son of Hades didn’t bring his sword with him but when Jason asked, he just grinned and told the blond that he just learned a trick to store his sword inside shadows, so whenever he wanted, he could just react a nearby shadow and grab his weapon.

Jason thought it was more impressive than the fact his own weapon could turn into a small coin to hide inside his pocket, “You’re so good at this, Nico! I’m so glad to be a friend of yours.”

“You’re not just a friend of mine,” Nico elbowed him slightly before taking his arm. “You’re my best friend, Jason.”

Yeah, _best friend_. Those words made Jason feel so happy but sad and disappointed at the same time. Best friends shouldn’t find the other sexually attractive or secretly stare at them whenever they didn’t pay attention, right? He’s doing quite a poor job as being a best friend.

“If you’re not used to this, I recommend to close your eyes during the trip,” Nico told him when he let the shadows embrace both their bodies. “It might be a little bit disoriented at first, but it’ll go away quickly.”

“Okay, I’m ready.” Jason closed his eyes and he felt a slight pull from the invisible space in front of him. He knew they’re both traveling at a fast speed, but he couldn’t really feel anything besides a little bit cold and numbness at the tip of his fingers.

Nico’s arm was holding his own quite strongly and Jason breathed out when he laced his hand with Nico and entwined their fingers together. The other boy didn’t pull away, but Jason couldn’t know it’s because Nico agreed with his action or he simply can’t let go of his arm at this moment.

The hand-holding was a nice experience after all, so just call him a fool for secretly enjoying that.

When the strange feeling disappeared, Jason opened his eyes and blinked. “Wow, we’re already outside now, aren’t we?”

“That isn’t the first time you travel with me or the first time you see New York, so could you please stop making that surprised face?” Nico grimaced at the blond. “It’s not that surprising.”

“Yes, it is,” Jason smiled when he noticed that Nico hasn’t pulled his hand out of Jason’s yet. “Maybe you’re too familiar with your own powers so that you don’t think about it much, but how many demigods out there can do such exceptional things as you?”

“You can fly and summon lightning. Percy can control the water and create such dangerous whirlpools. Hazel can command the ground to move for her, and Frank is a shape-shifter. Leo has his fire and Piper possesses charmspeak. Annabeth doesn’t have any superpower but she’s so intelligent that…”

“Okay, you need to stop now, Nico.” Jason held up the free arm between the two of them and started to speak in a commanding tone. He didn’t want to use that usual tone for the members in his cohort or when he’s leading Camp Jupiter with Nico, but that’s a time he needed that tone. “Look at yourself. I can fly, you can shadow-travel. I summon lightning, you can summon the death. Percy controls the water? You can control a whole dead army to fight for you. You can command the earth to move too, Nico, you’re a son of Lord of the Underworld after all. And even though you don’t have charmspeak, your negotiation skills are exceptionally great. You convinced your father to join the war so that we won this time, remember? Stop underestimating yourself too much, you’re admirable, dependable, undoubtedly strong and brave. Do you understand me, Nico?”

“… I can’t believe you just gave me a pep talk in the middle of New York’s street.” Nico blinked at Jason and breathed out, but the corner of his mouth raised up a little bit and his lips stretched into a thin smile.

“That’s not the point.”

“I get it, geez,” Nico playfully poked Jason’s forehead with the tip of his finger. “Thank you, Jason. Now I know where I can come to when I need some ego boost.”

“Always my pleasure,” Jason grinned at the smaller demigod. “So, where are we going?”

“I don’t really have a place in mind at this moment so you’re in charge,” Nico shook his head. “What do you want to do?”

Jason restrained himself from saying _‘To be honest we’re still holding hands and I kinda like it so can we do it for the rest of this day?’_ and tried to think about something else instead. He came up with nothing though. “I don’t have any idea either. I don’t go out that much, you know.”

“So I guess today we can simply do some exploring stuff around New York,” Nico nodded at Jason and flashed him a small smile. “Are you in?”

“I’m in,” Jason replied, joy dripped in his voice when Nico still held his hand and took the lead to start their little exploration in New York City.

…

Jason couldn’t say he’s surprised when the first place Nico stopped was McDonald’s.

“What? I like fries here! They’re delicious!” Nico protested when he saw the cheeky grin on the blond’s mouth.

“I said nothing.”

“Your expression is enough! Stop grinning at me!” Nico pouted when he released Jason’s hand and walked forward. The son of Jupiter felt a little lost at this so he stopped smiling and quietly followed the black-haired boy.

Nico ordered without looking at the menu when Jason’s still lost in thought about what should he choose. He glanced at the smaller boy quizzically when he heard that Nico chose a Happy Meal.

“I just want a small portion, and a Happy Meal is perfect,” Nico explained when Jason raised an eyebrow at his choice of food. “The dead and spirits like that, too. I used them to summon ghosts and spirits before.”

Jason tried to not imagine some ghosts hungrily stuff down the fries through their semi-transparent skin, or a skeleton devours a bite of a chicken drumstick. It was really weird, and he chose to focus on Nico’s lightened expression when he received his Happy Meal.

“Earth to Jason,” Nico’s velvety voice snapped the son of Jupiter back to reality. He smiled sheepishly when it’s Nico’s turn to raise an eyebrow. “What are you thinking? Do you have something in mind to choose?”

“I don’t eat out much,” Jason admitted, he really didn’t have any idea what should he take. “I don’t know, can you pick something for me?”

“You’re unbelievable.” Nico snorted, but he still did what he’s asked. Jason’s quite grateful for that because Nico didn’t look at him like he’s an idiot. Well, maybe he did, but for just a quick second and no _“I’m judging you”_ stare was used. He could be pleased with that.

Nico paid for their order by a black card that Jason noticed the outline decoration was definitely real gold. He thought Hades gave his son the card and since he’s the God of Wealth and all, he doubted the amount of money in that card could be less than $1,000,000. Or maybe it’s even unlimited. He didn’t know how an unlimited card could work, but that’s not his job to worry about.

“Do you want to sit inside and eat, or take a walk instead?” Nico asked and Jason cast a quick glance around. There’re plenty of vacant tables and it’s not crowded yet. He smiled.

“I hope that you don’t mind sitting here and telling me some stories that you promised last night.”

“I almost hope that you won’t bring that up,” Nico scrunched his nose and honestly, Jason thought that was adorable. “Fine, I promised, so let’s take a table before I regret my life’s choices.”

Jason happily chose a table for them, it was in a corner and it’s quite secluded, giving them a small sense of privacy. Nico seemed comfortable with that, and when they sat down and he started to open his Happy Meal, he slightly shook his head at Jason’s expression. “What do you want to ask me, Grace?”

“Whatever you wanna tell me, I’m glad to hear them all,” Jason shrugged, thinking for a moment. “Start with the time you spent in the Underworld before the War with Gaea, if it’s alright.”

“Okay, where should I start?” Nico took out a fries and slightly scrunched his nose. Jason personally thought that was adorable. “Hmm, after I got rid of Minos and became the Ghost King myself…”

Jason had a memorable afternoon, and he swore he would never forget even just the smallest detail of all the stories Nico told him.

…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Technically, I know this isn't the first time Jason shadow-travelled with Nico, but the first time they use that to hang out, so it still counts.
> 
> Thanks for reading! Have a nice day!


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